Finally building new computer (is serious now o.o)

[WTF Joel]

Firstly, Joel, I suggest that you might get more concrete suggestions if you have a list of what you looking at. (i saw an image yesterday but it is not displaying for me now). It's easier for people to give an opinion based on a mock-up rather than out of thin air. Sure, some of the things you pick may get bad reviews from some of the folks here, but for me, I would rather know before I made a purchase. This is from someone who *just* had to rma a $250 dollar psu (noisy as fuck - pc cooling and power).

Secondly, to the Americans in the group, I suggest you confirm that the prices Joel posted are in US or CDN $ before saying anything is overpriced. 

RE: RAID
I had windows installed on a raid 0 for over 4 years with no probs, only had an issue when I tried to upgrade the cpu and fried the mobo. It didn't affect the raid array, but did take down the hardware controller on the mobo (nvidia n-force mobo ). Something I did not know, not all hardware RAID controllers are interchangeable, which meant that when i went to upgrade, I was limited to an nvidia n-force mobo (which are not as reliable as intel, or as many choices, for the past 1+ year) if I wanted to ressurect that RAID array. Now, fortunately, once I got the new n-force mobo it recognized my old RAID without a hitch, but this is not guaranteed with any mobo raid. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/RAID...640.html.  On my new config, i am running windows on a raid 1 (i figure if the controller goes on me again, i have a better chance of doing some MBR kung-fu and getting the data, even if i don't have a compatable controller).

here is what I was going to buy, before I was blasted out of the air :o

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9936/pcorderpr7.jpg

[rumsfald]

thanks for reposting, joel.

Firstly, I'm no expert, but here is my 2 cents.

This vid card is also a 260. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...6814130370 I'm not sure how much difference is in performance, but it is 50$ cheaper than the ASUS in your basket and EVGA makes nice stuff too.

Also, for the Americans, the EVGA same card is $50 less on newegg.COM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814130370, so take that into comparison when looking at Joel's prices.

asus mobo's with intel northbridges are solid, but you won't be able to SLI with that. so, you can run 1 nvidia 260 if you want, or you could pick an ATI card now if you want to cross-fire later, which leads us to

coolmax psu's are nice and are cheaper than most, but you don't need 1200w with 1 GPU. so if you want to eventually SLI 260s, you need a different mobo. if you want to run 2 of any vid card, you could pick an ATI to start, or if you only want 1 nvidia gpu then you can certainly scale down to 750+w on the gpu. coolmax makes one of those i think.

i don't know case, personally i love the way lian-li cases are engineered.

as caff said, processor seems overkill, but if you do a lot of graphics/video work on apps that can use it then you might want it.

what OS? if you cut back on any of the above and plan on vista 64, then you can pimp RAM to 8GB (depending on mobo) pretty cheaply (less than 100$~). This may be important, as you do a lot of graphics/video editing.

overall, i think all the parts you picked are solid (some may be a little over the sweet spot of bang/buck), but there are some limitations to the combination of them all.

good luck.

[Blues]

[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50427#msg50427 date=1227057140]
*facepalm*

But what's extra money if you don't need it I suppose.

IMO its not the money, but how its allocated, for that money the HDDs, you should have one main drive for windows, than 3 smaller ones for a RAID 5 for data.

Instead of a quad core Id go with a dual with much faster cores, like 3.5 ghz+

And I'd bump the graphics up to a GTX280 if you are going for broke.
[/quote]
Ohi this, I will assemble a full spec list with your price cap in mind. Basically a beefed up version of Radio's comp I just finished.

[WTF Joel]

[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1802.msg50428#msg50428 date=1227057799]
[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50427#msg50427 date=1227057140]
*facepalm*

But what's extra money if you don't need it I suppose.

IMO its not the money, but how its allocated, for that money the HDDs, you should have one main drive for windows, than 3 smaller ones for a RAID 5 for data.

Instead of a quad core Id go with a dual with much faster cores, like 3.5 ghz+

And I'd bump the graphics up to a GTX280 if you are going for broke.
[/quote]
Ohi this, I will assemble a full spec list with your price cap in mind. Basically a beefed up version of Radio's comp I just finished.
[/quote]

If you're going to do it, I'll say that 2400 is my max, and allow 200 - 300 for shipping and handling. I want the best I can get for that, which Im sure I dont need to tell you. Good luck and thank you sir.

[Blues]

[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50575#msg50575 date=1227153683]
[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1802.msg50428#msg50428 date=1227057799]
[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50427#msg50427 date=1227057140]
*facepalm*

But what's extra money if you don't need it I suppose.

IMO its not the money, but how its allocated, for that money the HDDs, you should have one main drive for windows, than 3 smaller ones for a RAID 5 for data.

Instead of a quad core Id go with a dual with much faster cores, like 3.5 ghz+

And I'd bump the graphics up to a GTX280 if you are going for broke.
[/quote]
Ohi this, I will assemble a full spec list with your price cap in mind. Basically a beefed up version of Radio's comp I just finished.
[/quote]

If you're going to do it, I'll say that 2400 is my max, and allow 200 - 300 for shipping and handling. I want the best I can get for that, which Im sure I dont need to tell you. Good luck and thank you sir.
[/quote]
I'm chilling at the college now ready to spec you up, just checking, you need absolutely no peripherals or monitor or anything right? Making sure before I start going on this.

[Eschatos]

Can someone explain what/why is a RAID array?  How much extra speed does it give over just regular hard drives?

[CaffeinePowered]

Can someone explain what/why is a RAID array?  How much extra speed does it give over just regular hard drives?

RAID 0 - Uses 2 Drives - Striping, for any given file, half is on each drive, can cut access time for a file by a maximum of 50%

RAID 1 - Uses 2 Drives - Mirroring, everything written to one drive is copied onto the other, in case of hardware failure, you have a working backup at all times for all of your files

RAID 5 - Uses 3 drives and does both RAID 0 and 1, if one drive fails the hash drive rebuilds the files.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

You might need some basic knowledge on how a computer writes files to a physical disk to understand some of this

[Wedge]

[quote author=Metal Lemur Solid link=topic=1802.msg50597#msg50597 date=1227157696]
[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50575#msg50575 date=1227153683]
[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1802.msg50428#msg50428 date=1227057799]
[quote author=Blues link=topic=1802.msg50427#msg50427 date=1227057140]
*facepalm*

But what's extra money if you don't need it I suppose.

IMO its not the money, but how its allocated, for that money the HDDs, you should have one main drive for windows, than 3 smaller ones for a RAID 5 for data.

Instead of a quad core Id go with a dual with much faster cores, like 3.5 ghz+

And I'd bump the graphics up to a GTX280 if you are going for broke.
[/quote]
Ohi this, I will assemble a full spec list with your price cap in mind. Basically a beefed up version of Radio's comp I just finished.
[/quote]

If you're going to do it, I'll say that 2400 is my max, and allow 200 - 300 for shipping and handling. I want the best I can get for that, which Im sure I dont need to tell you. Good luck and thank you sir.
[/quote]
I'm chilling at the college now ready to spec you up, just checking, you need absolutely no peripherals or monitor or anything right? Making sure before I start going on this.
[/quote]

He needs a new mouse and keyboard I assume, since he had a G11 and G5 in the original build...

[WTF Joel]

As it stands right now I was going to use my 32" HDTV for the monitor, but I'm really hearing mixed things from it. Vandam says its no good, and suggested a 22" Widescreen for the new rig. If I do get my own monitor for it, then I'll also need some nice speakers for it, since it won't have the TV's. And yes keyboard and mouse I need. Anything else that I want to add to it down the road will come then, but for now, give me what I can. Also, Rummy has a point. Since I do a lot of video and graphics work maybe the quad would be good for me... but I dunno. As for my price I'm starting to think that I might up the price tag to 3 grand and just go for broke. I'll have the money, its just the last half is coming in small parts, but as for having it, its a certainty. Just give me a beast and we'll take a look see.

[CaffeinePowered]

Nope, your TV, even an HDTV has shitty resolution when compared to a computer monitor. I'd recommend a 19" or 22" PC monitor, if you go with a GTX280 its going to pump out a lot higher resolution than your TV can handle.

[WTF Joel]

Then I guess I'll go with a new 22" monitor... I'll hook my old comp to the computer I guess x3

[Wedge]

Then I guess I'll go with a new 22" monitor... I'll hook my old comp to the computer I guess x3

Or hook up your computer to both =O.  If it's a 1080p TV, then it's fine for a monitor, but I'm assuming it's not, so 720p is only good for video playback, and games if you want to play them at a lower res, but bigger screen.

[Blues]

Hell if you're going to spend that much you might as well take a look at this that I threw together for Bokurg.
Here

Minor tweaks can drop the price, you can switch out the mobo since apparently some people do have problems with them. (Like I said I've never run across the problems and I've built a couple comps for people around here who had huge ass budgets and didn't listen to the "second gen spending is better than buying the best right now" argument. Also oc'd on one of them with no problem. 

Instead of the 2x 280s, you can go for one and grab another 500GB HDD, and you can get a cheaper PSU since you wouldn't be SLIing. Personally, I wouldn't bother RAIDing anything. 2x 500GB, or even 2x 750GB, is reliable. Hell, I have drives from 2001 or earlier that are still in fine working condition. Real world performance tests show that the gain in speed from RAID is miniscule in most cases, and for gaming you are going to feel and see no difference unless you sit there and run numbers. It's not to say you can't RAID if you want to, I've always just found it to be more of a bother than it ends up being worth in the end, unless you've got some massively important stuff there that needs  backing up. (I.e. you run a server with work related files or things you can't reclaim or backup elsewhere easily.) You can also cut out the Blu-Ray drive (unless you want it). Altogether not too hard to cut a few hundred off that price so you can put it into monitor / peripherals.


Or, I can get to work on putting together an i7 comp for you, but you'd have to wait a couple days because I need time to do research on them. (It's not as simple as this is newer and has bigger numbers, so it's better.) No net so I haven't had a chance to catch up.

[WTF Joel]

naw, I only wanted to jack the price to accommodate the monitor and speakers.. :x

[rumsfald]

In my opinion, a 2 grand system is already going to be a beast.  Personally, I'd recommend saving the extra grand for when you want to upgrade in a year or 2.

As for flat panel widescreen monitors, I'm a big fan of dell. You can get a 22" from 300-450
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/category...l=en&s=dhs

[Blues]

naw, I only wanted to jack the price to accommodate the monitor and speakers.. :x

That's what I just said. That comp, - a few hundred dollars worth of parts. The motherboard, PSU, Blu-Ray drive, and second 280 changout will drop the price of THAT build by at least 400$. Also, you only need about 300$ to pick up a 22" Asus and the G5/G11 (Or MX518, wink wink). Shipping was also factored into the price of that comp, so like said, it would fit into your budget snugly.

The comp I would assemble in your price range would basically be that one with the changes I specified.

I'm not positive on the pricing of a good i7 comp, because like said, no time to research it.

Also, last option I can build you a budget PC, something like 1500-2000$ or so, that you can then OC the fuck out of when it finally starts getting outdated. I like this method personally because you save at the very least a couple hundred dollars when you finally have no choice but to upgrade fully to keep up with the next set comp components. (i.e. the single-core to dual-core jump, prior to that I had invested about 1k into my comp, and by the time it needed an upgrade January of this year, I put together a comp for 600$ that I'm loving right now. If I had kept on top of everything, and bought this computer when it was first available and top of the line, it would have easily been 1500$.)

Oh, fuck 300$ for a 22" btw. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6824009145

Using that one right now, have been since I got this comp, and love it. Vivid colors, no bleeding, no dead pixels, etc. etc. Great buy and cheap as fuck, can't beat it. They've got another that I believe has a better refresh rate because it's newer, or at least that's the impression I'm under I didn't take the time to look but will in a bit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6824009138

[WTF Joel]

then if you want to pick apart your list, and maybe see if you can get me some .ca links, looking at the monitors on newegg.ca I can get one from dell that rummy suggested that is fill 1080 for the same price as one thats not.. so I will get a dell monitor

[x]

if you go with a GTX280 its going to pump out a lot higher resolution than your TV can handle.

Isn't yours powering a 19" CRT? 

[rumsfald]

I forgot to mention, put me in the headphone crowd for games. Speakers for music or TV should be bought separately with a dedicated budget outside of computer parts if you really like music. PErsonally, I love Cambridge Soundworks, but dunno if they ship to CA.

grado sr60s for gaming headphones.

[Mission Difficult]

grado sr60s for gaming headphones.

Love grado stuff. Top notch.